Wednesday, February 12th, 2014 at 12:05am

SANTA FE – An effort to make it more difficult for the Legislature to pass amendments to the state Constitution narrowly passed a Senate Committee on Tuesday.

Senate Joint Resolution 17, sponsored by Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque, would change the state Constitution to require that future constitutional amendments receive a vote from at least two-thirds of the members elected to each chamber rather than a simple majority.

In the House, the change would mean approval from 47 of the 70 members rather than the 36 votes currently required. In the Senate, the change would require approval from at least 28 of the 42 members rather than 23 votes.

The effort to raise the bar for constitutional amendments comes as some legislators are turning to proposed constitutional amendments to enact policy the governor otherwise would veto. Constitutional amendments adopted by both the Senate and the House bypass the governor and go to voters on a ballot for ratification during the next statewide election.